10 Surprisingly Canceled TV Shows

While critics loved 'Freaks and Geeks' when it aired during the 1999-2000 season, viewers avoided the 1980s-based show. Surprisingly, it went on to become a cult classic. NBC/Getty Images

Who didn't love high school in the 1980s, with the slackers trying to avoid work and the nerds trying to get dates? Well, maybe "love" is too strong a word. But critics did love "Freaks and Geeks" even as viewers avoided it. Eighteen episodes were filmed for the 1999 to 2000 season, but only 12 were shown before NBC took the drama off the air.

Though high school is often painful, having your show canceled doesn't have to be. Cast and crew went on to bigger and better things: James Franco ("127 Hours" and "This Is the End"), Jason Segel ("How I Met Your Mother" and "The Five-Year Engagement"), Seth Rogen, ("Knocked Up" and "Pineapple Express"), John Francis Daley ("Bones") and Linda Cardellini ("ER" and "Mad Men"). Show creator Judd Apatow also became a force to be reckoned with as a writer, director and producer for such projects as "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" and the TV series "Girls." Power to the freaks.